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href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/12/the-balfour-declaration-destroyed-palestine-not-the-palestinian-people/">https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/12/the-balfour-declaration-destroyed-palestine-not-the-palestinian-people/</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">The Balfour Declaration Destroyed
Palestine, Not the Palestinian People</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">by <span
class="post_author" itemprop="author"><a
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/author/cet6s/"
rel="nofollow">Ramzy Baroud</a> - October 12, 2017<br>
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<p>Some promises are made and kept; others disavowed. But
the ‘promise’ made by Arthur James Balfour in what
became known as the ‘Balfour Declaration’ to the leaders
of the Zionist Jewish community in Britain one hundred
years ago, was only honored in part: it established a
state for the Jews and attempted to destroy the
Palestinian nation.</p>
<p>In fact, Balfour, the foreign Secretary of Britain at
the time his declaration of 84 words was pronounced on
November 2, 1917, was, like many of his peers,
anti-Semitic. He cared little about the fate of Jewish
communities. His commitment to establishing a Jewish
state in a land that was already populated by a thriving
and historically-rooted nation was only meant to enlist
the support of wealthy Zionist leaders in Britain’s
massive military buildup during World War I.</p>
<p>Whether Balfour knew it or not, the extent to which his
short statement to the leader of the Jewish community in
Britain, Walter Rothschild, would uproot a whole nation
from their ancestral homes and continue to devastate
several generations of Palestinians decades later, is
moot. In fact, judging by the <a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/balfour-declaration-was-a-humanitarian-gesture-descendant-says/">strong
support his descendants</a> continue to exhibit
towards Israel, one would guess that he, too, would have
been ‘proud’ of Israel, oblivious to the tragic fate of
the Palestinians.</p>
<p>This is what he penned down a century ago:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“His Majesty’s government views with favor the
establishment in Palestine of a national home for the
Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to
facilitate the achievement of this object, it being
clearly understood that nothing shall be done which
may prejudice the civil and religious rights of
existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the
rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any
other country. I should be grateful if you would bring
this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist
Federation.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Speaking recently at New York University, Palestinian
professor <a
href="http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/167039">Rashid
Khalidi described</a> the British commitment, then, as
an event that “marked the beginning of a century-long
colonial war in Palestine, supported by an array of
outside powers which continues to this day.”</p>
<p>But oftentimes, generalized, academic language and
refined political analysis, even if accurate, masks the
true extent of tragedies as expressed in the lives of
ordinary people.</p>
<p>As Balfour finished writing down his infamous words, he
must have been consumed with how effective his political
tactic would be in enlisting Zionists to join Britain’s
military adventures, in exchange for a piece of land
that was still under the control of the Ottoman Empire.</p>
<p>Yet, he clearly had no genuine regard for the millions
of Palestinian Arabs – Muslims and Christians alike –
who were to suffer the cruelty of war, ethnic cleansing,
racism and humiliation over the course of a century.</p>
<p>The Balfour Declaration was equivalent to a decree
calling for the annihilation of the Palestinian people.
Not one Palestinian, anywhere, remained completely
immune from the harm invited by Balfour and his
government.</p>
<p>Tamam Nassar, now 75 years old, was one of millions of
Palestinians whose life Balfour scarred forever. She was
uprooted from her village of Joulis in southern
Palestine, in 1948. She was only five.</p>
<p>Tamam, now lives with her children and grandchildren in
the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in Gaza. Ailing under the
weight of harsh years, and weary by a never-ending
episode of war, siege and poverty, she holds on to a few
hazy memories of a past that can never be redeemed.</p>
<p>Little does she know that a man by the name of Arthur
James Balfour had sealed the fate of the Nassar family
for many generations, condemning them to a life of
perpetual desolation.</p>
<p>I spoke to Tamam, also known as Umm Marwan (mother of
Marwan), as part of an attempt to document the
Palestinian past through the personal memories of
ordinary people.</p>
<p>By the time she was born, the British had already
colonized Palestine for decades, starting only months
after Balfour signed his declaration.</p>
<p>The few memories peeking through the naïveté of her
innocence were largely about racing after British
military convoys, pleading for candy.</p>
<p>Back then, Tamam did not encounter Jews or, perhaps,
she did. But since many Palestinian Jews looked just
like Palestinian Arabs, she could not tell the
difference or even care to make the distinction. People
were just people. Jews were their neighbors in Joulis,
and that was all that mattered.</p>
<p>Although the Palestinian Jews lived behind walls,
fences and trenches, for a while they walked freely
among the fellahin (peasants), shopped in their markets
and sought their help, for only the fellahin knew how to
speak the language of the land and decode the signs of
the seasons.</p>
<p>Tamam’s house was made of hardened mud, and had a small
front yard, where the little girl and her brothers were
often confined when the military convoys roamed their
village. Soon, this would happen more and more
frequently and the candy that once sweetened the lives
of the children, was no longer offered.</p>
<p>Then, there was the war that changed everything. That
was in 1948. The battle around Joulis crept up all too
quickly and showed little mercy. Some of the fellahin,
who ventured out beyond the borders of the village, were
never seen again.</p>
<p>The battle of Joulis was short-lived. Poor peasants
with kitchen knives and a few old rifles were no match
for advanced armies. British soldiers pulled out from
the outskirts of Joulis to allow Zionist militias to
stage their attack, and the villagers were chased out
after a brief but bloody battle.</p>
<p>Tamam, her brothers and parents were chased out of
Joulis, as well, never to see their beloved village
again. They moved about in refugee camps around Gaza,
before settling permanently in Nuseirat. Their tent was
eventually replaced by a mud house.</p>
<p>In Gaza, Tamam experienced many wars, bombing
campaigns, sieges and every warfare tactic Israel could
possibly muster. Her resolve is only weakened by the
frailty of her aging body, and the entrenched sadness
over the untimely deaths of her brother, Salim, and her
young son, Kamal.</p>
<p>Salim was killed by the Israeli army as he attempted to
escape Gaza following the war and brief Israeli invasion
of the Strip in 1956, and Kamal died as a result of
health complications resulting from torture in Israeli
prisons.</p>
<p>If Balfour was keen to ensure “nothing shall be done
which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of
existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine,” why is
it, then, that the British government remains committed
to Israel after all of these years?</p>
<p>Isn’t a century since that declaration was made, 70
years of Palestinian exile, 50 years of Israeli military
occupation all sufficient proof that Israel has no
respect for international law and Palestinian human,
civil and religious rights?</p>
<p>As she grew older, Tamam began returning to Joulis in
her mind, more often seeking a fleetingly happy memory,
and a moment of solace. Life under siege in Gaza is too
hard, especially for old people like her, struggling
with multiple ailments and broken hearts.</p>
<p>The attitude of the <a
href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/balfour-declaration-israel-palestine-theresa-may-government-centenary-arabs-jewish-settlements-a7607491.html">current
British government</a>, which is gearing up for a
massive <a
href="http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-confirms-uk-visit-to-mark-balfour-centenary-celebrations/">celebration</a>
to commemorate the centennial of the Balfour Declaration
suggests that nothing has changed and that no lessons
were ever learned in the 100 years since Balfour made
his ominous promise to establish a Jewish state at the
expense of Palestinians.</p>
<p>But this also rings true for the Palestinian people.
Their <a
href="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/Comment/2017/9/18/100-years-of-murderous-injustice-Marking-Balfour-with-BDS">commitment
to fight for freedom</a>, also remains unchanged and,
neither Balfour nor all of Britain’s foreign secretaries
since then, have managed to break the will of the
Palestinian nation.</p>
<p>That, too, is worth pondering upon.</p>
</div>
<p class="author_description"> <em><strong>Dr. Ramzy Baroud</strong>
has been writing about the Middle East for over 20
years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a
media consultant, an author of several books and the
founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My
Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto
Press, London). His website is: ramzybaroud.net</em> </p>
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